Former England captain Alastair Cook has slammed England’s batting effort on Day 3. India bowled out England for 317 runs in their first innings on Day 3 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.
England started Day 2 at 207 for 2, trailing India by 248 runs following a scintillating batting display from opener Ben Duckett, who smashed the fastest Test century by an English batter in India. However, a collapse followed on Day 3 as the visitors lost eight wickets for 112 runs to be bowled out for 319 runs by India.
“My shout [from yesterday] of ‘they could score 800 tomorrow is not looking too good – I’m only 481 off. Is it an opportunity lost? England have been poor with the bat – they’ve lost eight wickets for 116 today and you don’t win many matches when you collapse like that in the first innings,” said Cook.
He went on to say that India were poor on Day 2 but were very good on Day 3. Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the Indian bowlers, claiming three wickets on Day 3 while finishing with four wickets while giving away 84 runs in 21.1 overs in Rajkot.
“To win Test matches you have to be good for such long periods of time. India were poor yesterday but they’ve been very, very good today,” Cook added.
Cook also hit out at Joe Root being dismissed by playing a ramp shot in the first session, saying it was the wrong time to play it. Root was dismissed after scoring 18 runs off 31 deliveries, being caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal at second slip.
“You have to question if it was tactically right to play that shot. You’ve got Bumrah, who is India’s best bowler, and Root has struggled against playing him. When he played it in the Ashes on the first ball on day three at Edgbaston, we didn’t mind because it was about getting runs. But in this series, when all the wickets have been in the first 30 minutes of play, it was the wrong time to play it,” said Cook.
